[Watch] England's Sophie Ecclestone shocks herself with a one-handed stunner against Australia
England spinner Sophie Ecclestone pulled off one of the greatest catches ever seen in the history of women's cricket to dismiss Australian opener Phoebe Litchfield in the first ODI of the ongoing Women's Ashes on Wednesday.
Litchfield absolutely drilled a delivery from Nat Sciver-Brunt down the ground and would have believed that she had got enough to get it over the head of Ecclestone at mid-off. However, it wasn't to be as Ecclestone used every inch of her height to leap and reach the travelling ball.
She almost plucked the ball out of thin air, turned, and fell to the ground, but remarkably didn't lose control of the ball. Sophie Ecclestone was herself quite in disbelief about pulling off the catch she had completed as her teammates swarmed around her in celebration.
Here's a video of the catch:
SOPHIE ECCLESTONE, THAT IS UNREAL!!
An Eccy Speccy™️
#EnglandCricket #Ashes https://t.co/lM0bOee86W
England continue to fight back in Women's Ashes 2023
After Australia won the only Test and also the first T20I, they had a 6-0 lead and England knew that they had to win the remaining games to regain the Women's Ashes. The comeback from the hosts ever since has been sensational as they won the remaining two T20Is of the series.
Even in the ongoing ODI, apart from Alyssa Healy, all the other Australian batters got off to starts. However, the hosts have kept on chipping away with wickets at regular intervals and have kept themselves in the hunt. It will be interesting to see whether the visitors get to a respectable total with their lower order.
England XI: Sophia Dunkley, Tammy Beaumont, Heather Knight (c), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Alice Capsey, Danielle Wyatt, Amy Jones (wk), Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn, Kate Cross, Lauren Bell
Australia XI: Alyssa Healy (c & wk), Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ashleigh Gardner, Annabel Sutherland, Jess Jonassen, Georgia Wareham, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown